Israel’s 5th Column Hits Again: Israeli-Arab Charged with Spying

Amir Mahoul, brother of a former MK, was indicted today on charges of providing information on IDF bases and Shabak installations to Hizbullah.

By Hillel Fendel

First Publish: 5/27/2010, 11:29 AM / Last Update: 5/27/2010, 10:58 AM

Amir Mahoul, brother of former MK Issam Mahoul, was indicted this morning (Thursday) on charges of providing information on IDF bases and Shabak (Israel Security Agency) installations to Hizbullah. He also stands accused of providing information on the positions of falling rockets during the Second Lebanon War, and the names of Israelis who he felt could become Hizbullah informers.

At the same time that Mahoul was being indicted in the Nazareth District Court, his accomplice, Dr. Omar Said, was similarly indicted in a Haifa court. Said was arrested a month ago, and Mahoul 21 days ago. The story has largely been under a gag order until now.

Mahoul has confessed to the charges against him, though he now denies them. Police say he acknowledged having been in contact with Hizbullah officials in Jordan for six years, and having met with another Hizbullah agent in Denmark in 2008. He reportedly agreed to provide the latter with secret information.

Mahoul and his wife now claim that he was interrogated for 36 hours without sleep and under other torturous conditions. The Shabak said in response that the judge “made sure before each hearing to ask him how he feels, and he said he feels good but that he misses his family.”

On Wednesday, the Knesset passed a preliminary reading of a law proposal that would strip citizenship from those convicted of terrorist crimes, and would enforce strict prison conditions on Hamas terrorists.

In 2000, a poll published by Yediot Acharonot, Israel's largest paper, found that 66% of Israeli-Arabs said they would back the Palestinians in a confrontation with Israel; only 13% said they would support the country in which they are citizens, Israel.